“Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em; next, tell ’em; next, tell ’em what you told ’em.”
The origins of the quote are obscure, but you’ve probably heard it, or a variation, at some point in your career. It applies to pretty much any form of communication, from education to entertainment — and especially to sales.
Picture this: You’ve just scheduled a crunch call with a major prospect. You’ve got a sales demo environment ready to go. All that’s left is to show up and do what you do right?
Not exactly.
Demo preparation requires more than a loose plan and a product demo platform. You need to create a structured plan that lays out the sequence of events from beginning to end. You need a demo agenda.
Let’s go over what you need to know when designing one.
A demo agenda is a carefully written, step-by-step outline of a sales demo. It’s usually emailed to the prospect a day prior to the demo.
The agenda serves several purposes:
While your demo agenda shouldn’t be overly complex, it should also be more than a bullet list of pain points, features, and benefits. This isn’t about you. It’s all about them. Keep that in mind as you review the best practices below.
At the outset, you need to answer the following questions:
Once you’ve got a general idea of what a prospect is looking for, the next step is to drill down and examine each of their pain points. Sounds painful, right? Think about the unique challenges facing your prospective customer. Try to narrow your focus to the client’s three most significant issues. And bear in mind that these can be both professional and personal. They can relate to operational challenges as well as individual concerns such as how the prospect or their department is perceived within the company. Never forget that you’re selling to people, not to a faceless entity.
Set a Structure
Get your notebook ready — it’s time to write the agenda. This is as much a resource for you as it is for the prospect. It will help you stay focused and on track, while the prospect is given a general idea of how the demo will progress. This is where you tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em.
Generally, a product demonstration should take no more than half an hour divided as follows.
Break the ice and share the agenda to establish a rapport with your prospects. Introduce everyone if necessary and make some small talk. Keep it brief — especially if everyone’s already met before.
Show the prospect you understand them by providing a quick summary of their challenges and pain points. For each issue, clarify how your software can help, then discuss any other relevant features or benefits. Once that’s done, it’s time to get into the meat of the demo. It’s time to tell ‘em.
This is where you prove your software’s value. A demo is always a show-and-tell affair. But these days, the most compelling demos use hands-on, fully interactive virtual environments — the same technology used widely for training purposes — that simulate either the vendor’s or the prospect’s back end.
You can use a product demo platform to show a prospect how your software solves their problems. Better yet, after the demo, you can hand over the keys and kick off a POC that offers a crystal-clear idea of what the prospect will be getting. Just make sure you avoid the following pitfalls during the demo:
Finally, it’s time to tell ’em what you told ’em. Sum up the main points you’ve covered to cement them in the prospect’s mind. And don’t think of the summary as something that’s set in stone beforehand. Update it on the fly to account for points, questions, or concerns that the prospect has raised.
Finally, talk to the prospect about what happens next. Include a reasonable timeline too. Don’t just leave it all hanging. Say that you’ll circle back by a certain date to discuss where the prospect is at in the decision-making process.
Learn How to Deliver Exceptional Product Demos
Knowing how to design a demo agenda is only the first step. You must also know how to deliver a compelling demo. Read 7 Sales Demo Best Practices to Close Prospects, then review our Complete Product Demo Checklist.